Free shield SVG files

The shapes and their names

Heralds name shields by their outline. The heater, named much later after the flat-iron it resembles, is the shield of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and the shape most coats of arms are drawn on. The kite shield is older and longer. The French shield is nearly square, which leaves the most room for a complicated design, and the Swiss shield has a top edge that rises to three points.

A coat of arms is read as a field with charges on it. The quartered shield, the cross and the chevron here are three of the oldest and plainest arrangements. In heraldry a colour is never laid on a colour nor a metal on a metal, so for a traditional look pair gold or silver (yellow or white) with red, blue, green, purple or black.

Using them

The solid heater and kite shields are single shapes that cut at any size, and they make good bases: cut one in a dark colour, then cut the outline, the cross or the quartered shield in a lighter one and lay it on top. On the double-line designs, the small round ties across the gap hold the inner line in place, so leave them in.

For a name sign, the French shield and the banner shield have the most usable space. At file size, 100 mm wide, the banner is about 11 mm high inside its line, enough for one row of letters 7 mm tall.

How to open the files

• Cricut Design Space: choose Upload, pick the SVG, and add it to the canvas. Set the width you want; the shape is already welded.
• Silhouette Studio: Designer Edition and above open the SVG. The free Basic Edition does not, so open the DXF instead.
• LightBurn, xTool Creative Space and Glowforge: import the SVG, then set the layer to cut, score or engrave.
• Inkscape, Illustrator and Affinity: open the SVG. It is a plain filled path, so you can recolour it, add a stroke or combine it with your own work.
• Printing or sublimation: use the PNG, which has a transparent background.

Each design page lists the file’s narrowest part at seven sizes, so you can tell whether it will survive at the size you plan to cut.

Questions